Talk in Europe has Danone SA eyeing the Glenview-based maker of Enfamil and other nutritional products for infants and children. Danone has declined to comment, but the Paris-based food company is looking for new growth markets, and Mead Johnson could help with that.

What makes Mead Johnson so attractive? The world's second-largest baby formula maker has strong positions in developing countries where expanding middle classes are looking for better nutrition. Mead Johnson gets 70 percent of its sales from Asia and Latin America.

Most appealing is Mead Johnson's top ranking in China, the biggest and fastest-growing formula market in the world. Market researchers at Mintel Group Ltd. say Chinese formula sales are rising more than 20 percent annually, compared with less than 4 percent in the U.S.

With a market capitalization of $16.6 billion, Mead Johnson won't come cheap. And it has no pressing need to sell. Strong operating performance and a healthy P/E ratio of 24 have lifted Mead Johnson shares 43 percent in the past three years, outpacing a 39 percent rise for the broader stock market.

But rivals could afford to pay up for Mead Johnson. It competes with diversified global giants Danone, Nestle SA and North Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories. With just $4.2 billion in revenue last year, Mead Johnson is a fraction of their size.

Mead Johnson's Chinese market share, robust profit margins and strong product pipeline would help justify a premium bid. And baby formula makers don't need a lot of prodding to chase acquisitions. Nestle paid $12 billion two years ago for Pfizer's baby formula unit, topping a joint bid from Danone and Mead Johnson. Acquiring its former bidding partner would give Danone the additional heft in China that eluded it when Pfizer went to Nestle.

Mead Johnson surely hasn't escaped the notice of north suburban neighbor Abbott, which makes Similac baby formula. Nutritionals became Abbott's largest business and primary growth driver after CEO Miles White spun off the company's branded pharmaceutical business a year ago. And Abbott is investing heavily in China.

An inveterate deal-maker, Mr. White probably wouldn't enjoy watching another rival scoop up Mead Johnson. But he might have no choice. U.S. antitrust regulators aren't likely to look kindly on a combination of the country's two biggest formula makers. Abbott and Mead Johnson each control more than 30 percent of the market, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

An acquisition of Mead Johnson by Danone or somebody else would rob Abbott of a chance to vault ahead in China, where its 3.1 percent market share ranks a distant fourth. Mead Johnson has 9.2 percent, Nestle 8.9 percent and Danone 8.5 percent, Euromonitor data show. Abbott didn't respond to a request for comment.

Not that other potential acquirers necessarily would enjoy smooth sailing. Chinese authorities have made life difficult lately for the foreign companies that dominate its baby formula market. Last year, officials accused foreign suppliers of price fixing. It's hard to believe they'd react favorably if two of the largest were to combine.

Nevertheless, I'd rate the odds of a deal pretty high. It may not happen for a while, and might require a bad quarter or other misstep by Mead Johnson. Neither is out of the realm of possibility. The company recently acknowledged its sales force in China violated internal policies on payments to hospitals.

A Mead Johnson spokesman declines to discuss possible buyout overtures. But smaller companies with key strategic assets like Mead Johnson's share of the Chinese market often attract offers too rich to reject. The good news is Mead Johnson can afford to wait.